Piri Reis Technical High school in Tuzla, Istanbul – Văduva Andreea - Alexandra
The high school shares the name of Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, a famous navigator, primarily known for his books that contain information on early navigation techniques. Due to this is easy to imagine the fact that the students enrolled in this school are training to become future sailors, commanding officers or are actively training to work in the field of shipbuilding.
The Erasmus+ project allowed me and other students to visit the high school where this occurs and further understand the learning process encouraged there. When touring the building I was surprised to see classrooms especially designed for people to learn about the meaning of the flags and other elements they might face when sailing or how to tie certain knots. The most important element in the school from an academic standpoint must be the sailing simulator that the students benefit from. I personally found that room to also be the most fascinating one during our visit.
Another interesting aspect I was intrigued about during the tour was seeing the student's art projects displayed around the building. The variety of them was impressive as well since I saw everything from objects made from recyclable materials to model boats. As I found out later from a teacher, creativity is really important in the field of shipbuilding.
What I enjoyed most was that through this project, I could talk to the students from Turkyie who were learning there. As it can seem at first sight, their program was not easy having to balance the school work and the time that they had to spend working on actual ships in order to obtain the experience they need in order to succeed in their future job. To help with that, multiple amenities such as ping pong tables were placed around the building, encouraging students to relax during their break time. As I found out talking to a teacher, having some free time and different games to play has improved the academic performance that students had.
With all the above in mind, I can say that visiting Piri Reis High School was a great experience where I could see and interact with other scholars who study a very different subject than mine.